India to get first national security semiconductor fabrication plant as part of collaboration with U.S.

India to get first national security semiconductor fabrication produce chips for use in military hardware in both the countries; Modi and biden in talk

Under a transformative collaboration with the U.S., India will get its first-ever national security semiconductor fabrication plant that will produce chips for use in military hardware in both the countries as well as in critical telecommunication networks and electronics.

The ambitious India-U.S. joint project was announced following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden in Wilmington on Saturday (September 21, 2024).

The two leaders hailed the first-ever India-US semiconductor fabrication partnership as a "watershed arrangement", according to a joint fact sheet on Modi-Biden talks.

The project will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission and will be part of a strategic technology partnership among Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the U.S. Space Force.

It will not only become India's first, but one of the world's first multi-material fab for national security, people aware of the matter said.

“It is the first time that the U.S. military has agreed to do a partnership for these high-value technologies with India and it is a watershed moment as it is as significant as the civil nuclear deal,” they said.

"President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next-generation telecommunications, and green energy applications," the fact sheet noted.